Pakistani orders stockpiling of food as India tensions flare

AFP | Islamabad

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

Pakistan called on residents near the de facto border with India to stockpile food yesterday as tensions flare between the arch-rivals following a deadly attack last month.

India blames Pakistan for backing a shooting on civilians at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that killed 26 men.

Islamabad has denied the charge and the uneasy neighbours have issued a raft of tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic measures.

The two nuclear-armed countries have exchanged gunfire for eight consecutive nights along the militarised Line of Control, the de facto border that separates the contested Kashmir region.

“Instructions have been issued to stock food supplies for two months in the 13 constituencies along the Line of Control (LoC),” the prime minister of Pakistan’s border region, Chaudhry Anwar ul Haq, told the local assembly yesterday.

The regional government has also created an emergency fund of one billion rupees ($3.5 million) to ensure the supply of “food, medicines and all other basic necessities” to the 13 constituencies, he said.

Government and privately owned machinery was also being deployed to maintain roads in the areas along the LoC, he said.

In Muzaffarabad, the region’s capital, dozens of protesters rallied under the banner of a Kashmiri political coalition.

“This protest march is a show of solidarity with the Pakistan military,” Farooq Rahmani, one of the organisers of the protest told AFP.

“If there is any misadventure (by India), we are ready to respond firmly,” he added.

The attack in Indian Kashmir and subsequent tensions, including expulsions and closed border crossings, have raised fears of a conflagration between India and Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack.

Pakistan said earlier this week it had “credible evidence” that India is planning an imminent military strike, vowing that any attack would be met with a response.